Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
It was the first time when I watched the Spanish national football derby, "El Clásico". Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe with the capacity of nearly 100000, was full of Barcelona supporters holding banners and Catalonian flags. Cheering loudly for the home team and showing the FC Barcelona colors, red and blue, the supporters' side fueled the stadium with anticipation.
With the mind occupied by the intense match, I jumped up on the couch, pumped my fists, and screamed for every goal and goal attempts players made. After the referee whistled to end the match, the image of Pique holding up five fingers standing for Barcelona's five-nil winning against its eternal rival, Real Madrid, ignited both the stadium and the commentary. I clapped hard for the dazzling performance Barcelona gave and sympathizes the pain Real Madrid suffered.
I love football. I enjoy every moment watching it. Also, as the most popular sport on earth, football is never just about the game itself. It took me on a transcontinental journey to discover the beauty of various cultures. It took me to the Iberian Peninsula to explore the land that nourished genius with spellbinding techniques, Spain. The motto of my favorite club Barca, "mes que un club", intrigued me to discover the club's role as the symbol of Catalan culture and to glimpse at the period of Spanish Civil War. I was introduced to the Catalan culture for the first time and learned my first Catalan song "Cant del Barça", which was the official hymn of the club. Football also gave me another perspective to look at the mysterious continent of South America. I pondered how tango may influence the style of Argentina football and the movements of its players. Also, numerous Brazilian players such as Ronaldinho showed me the dream and talent of millions of kids living in poverty in Brazil.
La Copa de la Vida, the official song of the 1998 French World Cup, was the first Spanish song I learned. Passionate, energetic, and a little mysterious, that is my first impression about Spanish, the dominant language in the football world. Excited by the upcoming football festival, I decided to learn this beautiful language before the 2014 World Cup. With few resources to learn Spanish in my town, I packed up to Shanghai, the biggest city in China.
My goal was to be able to understand the Spanish interviews during the 2014 World Cup. So I plunged into the sea of Spanish adamantly. The rules of conjugation for different tenses and all the irregulars seemed daunting to me when I first started. However, the fear was overcome by my urge and determination to participate in the Spanish world. To improve my accent, I read the Spanish articles and websites every single day. For two months, I had practiced pronouncing the thrilled R on subways and buses while trying to ignore the weird look every passenger around gave me. Moreover, I made stacks of vocabulary cards and crammed my music playlist with songs of Enrique Iglesias and Shakira. Shocked by the Spanish speaking speed at first, I played the listening practice tape again and again to catch a clue.
My favorite player did not win the World Cup trophy for Argentina after all. Leo Messi, the best football player on this planet, ran out of magic to lead his country to another victory, but I did understand the content of the interview in Spanish after Argentina's semi-final. The agony and the ecstasy, the delight and the sorrow football brings me is after all the love of the sport and life. It taught me to believe in miracles, to play with dignity, to hope for a reunion, to fight for honor and most importantly, to act fearlessly.
I really think you get a clear understanding of your personality from this and you are able to clearly picture how Football has affected your personality and shaped the person you have become, as well as how that influenced your pursuit of Spanish. Well done! There may be a few grammar mistakes here and there, but I think you answered the prompt impeccably!
